My bikes

Part 2: 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS



As you read in my last post, I crashed my old Nishiki Olympic 12 in February 2008 on my second attempt to bicycle commute to work. I fixed it up as best I could and continued to ride it. After taking a couple of trips over the summer I wanted to start riding again. I pumped up the tires on my Oly 12 only to find out that the wreck compromised the belts in the front tire. When I pumped them all the way up, there was a definite wobble in the tire, which it turned out, was cased by the belts in the tire letting go.

So, I came to a decision point: Do I put more money into the Oly 12, or do I buy a new bike? When I first wrecked it, I kind of decided I would buy myself a nice bike for my birthday in October. This was a little ahead of schedule though.

As it turns out, a friend from church is part owner of a bike shop. Someone else from church mentioned to her that she had a couple of bikes for sale, and the bike shop owner mentioned this to me.

To make a short story long ;-), I called the lady from our church and went over to her house to check the bikes out. It turns out that her daughter-in-law's father had died and he had two bikes in his garage. She ended up with the bikes and was looking to sell them. One of them turned out to be another Nishiki. Now, they stopped making Nishikis in 2001, but this one still had the price tags on it (you can see them on the handlebars in the picture above)! Of course I bought it. I couldn't pass up a brand new bicycle with garage sale price tag. After checking the serial number, I found out the bike was actually built in 1994. So I bought a brand new, 14-year-old bike.

Some accessories, and it's ready for the commute:









Note the headlight and the bell.

My bikes

Part 1: 1984 Nishiki Olympic 12



The biggest change in my life this year has been in the area of transportation. I've driven my car half as much this year as I did last year. Part of the reason is that my youngest now has his license and I'm not driving him around, but part of it is that I've started riding my bicycle to work. I figured it would do me good if I rode once in a while; I don't like to do any other kind of exercise.

In February, my work location changed and now I live less than ten miles from the office. I mentioned this back in February. The bike I started to commute on back then was my trusty old Nishiki Olympic 12 (pictured above in February when I started riding to work). It was made in 1983, I got it in 1984 (or perhaps 1985). As I recall, I paid about $250 for it. It seems like nothing now, but in 1984, that was a lot of money to us.

At the time we lived in Los Angeles and we only had one car. So if I rode my bicycle to work,

Los Angeles Bike Commute

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

it allowed Mrs. Doohickie to have the car during the day to do whatever she needed to do. It was a good investment. I hadn't owned a car until 1984, so bicycling was pretty much how I got around when I was in college.



We moved away from L.A. in 1987 and the Oly 12 was never ridden regularly again. Until February 2008, when I was again close enough to my work place to think it was possible. This time, I have a car. I'm riding my bike for the enjoyment and exercise. Starting to ride my bike to work this time around wasn't without excitement, as this post from February proves. Even though I crashed the bike, I fixed it up enough to feel comfortable riding it. Mostly I got the front rim straightened and bent the front fork back into shape using an aluminum ladder.

Eventually I got another bike (which will be my next post), but I recently got the old Oly 12 off her hooks in the garage and cleaned her up a bit. A new tire, some new handlebar tape, and she's looking pretty good:







Of course, the frame damage from the accident remains.







There really isn't anything I can do for her, short of spending several times what she cost new at a frame builder. My other option is to find a similar bike, maybe just a frame, and move all the good parts over to it and give my old Nishiki a proper burial. She's a good bike, though, and I don't like to think about letting her go.

Habitat for Humanity Build

So today I participated in a build for Habitat for Humanity. The build was less than 7 miles from my home so I rode my bicycle over there. Here are a few pictures from the build.

My bike parked out in front of the work site


Busy little worker bees


Gotta make sure we don't get dehydrated


Me, in front of the house


The house at the end of the day

Another visit to Floriduh

Once again, I'm stuck in Floriduh on a business trip. Once again we had a test failure which is extending my trip. This time, though, I realized my aunt and uncle live in Florida and decided to give them a call.

So today I drove the hour and a half from Orlando to Avon Park to visit Uncle Richie and Aunt Mickie. They moved to Florida a few years back and actually own two mobile homes in a little neighborhood of them. So I drove through the orange groves and pulled into their neighborhood nestled next to a lake. The homes are older, but well taken care of.

I pulled up to their home,



Stepped into the front patio,



And turned around to check out the view of the lake.



Aunt Mickie was quick to offer me a beer.



And Uncle Richie was already watching the Buffalo Bills game. (Through a happy coincidence, Buffalo was playing Jacksonville, so the game was on local TV and we could watch our beloved Bills.)



Here is Uncle Richie toasting a Bills touchdown!



Uncle Richie took me out in the yard and gave me a tour of his garden. The oranges are growing in bunches.





And he's got some pineapple plants going. These were started from pineapple tops from fruit bought at the grocery store.



All in all, it was a good day. The Bills won. I got some great home cooking. I got a chance to do some laundry. And I also got invited back to stay with them for vacation when I have more time to hang around.

Taking Pictures in the Dark

After the hubbub of the graduation party settled down, we went back to Shay's house and hung out with her family. It was a nice relaxing evening and I didn't even think about getting the camera out until the end of the night when we toasted marshmallows. Bookmark these pics and come back to them in six months when you're freezing your butts off, and remember how nice summertime can be!

Welcome!

I set up a blog for Mrs. Doohickie. She wanted a blog so she could post on other people's blogs without being totally anonymous.

She says she won't post because she doesn't have anything interesting to post, but she's WAY more interesting than I am! ;- ) You can read her blog at PennyCandy. Go on over right now and say hi!

So would this be good to do with my new bike?

Just wonderin'.

Thanks to Fritz

I haz a BICYCLE!

As mentioned in the past, I've been getting into this bicycle commuting thing. Also mentioned in a previous post was the spill I took when I was just starting out. My beloved 24-year-old Nishiki Olympic 12 has never been the same.

I know Nishiki is just another brand, but I've had this bike so long, I've kind of developed a fondness for Nishiki bicycles. Sadly, they stopped producing them in 2001.

However, my friend that owns a bike shop let me know of a mutual friend that mentioned she had a bike for sale. I check it out today; it turned out to be a Nishiki XRS Sport Hybrid.

And it gets better: It is brand new! It still had the price tag and the little tire nubbies! She wanted $100 for it, and I handed it over quickly (original price tag was $379).



She said when her daughter-in-law's father died, they found the bike in his garage. Apparently he was the type that picked up a bargain when he found one, whether he needed the item or not. This particular bike had been marked down to $240. So he bought it and apparently never rode it.

Thank you, sir. I will treat your bike well.